Long Time Apart, No Sorrow

● The title is taken from Jiang Kui’s Song dynasty poem, “Partridge Sky: A Dream on the Lantern Festival”: “Spring has yet to turn green, but my temples are already gray. After long years apart, sorrow no longer comes.”

● [Weibo: @Jinjiang Xuehen]

[BE]

When Guan Miaoling met Ji Chong, she was bundled in thick cold-weather gear, standing in the bitter, salt-laden wind.

Beyond the lead-gray sky and the ice underfoot, he wore a finely tailored dark coat, completely out of place in the rugged polar environment around them.

Guan Miaoling, in her bulky expedition uniform, called to him, “You’d rather look good than stay alive? Go freeze to death, then!”

77°50' south latitude, Domo Risco Research Station.

In a remote corner of the world surrounded by glaciers and snow-capped mountains, they were the youngest researchers among those stationed there. They kept warm by drinking whiskey, rubbing their hands together, and huddling close to each other.

As they lay in their sleeping bags, gazing at the dancing aurora, Guan Miaoling promised him that she would leave with him when the icebreaker arrived in spring.

But then an unexpected blizzard struck, and the rescue team hurriedly evacuated her.

All that remained for Ji Chong was an unfinished love poem and a piece of stained felt.

The poem read: “When spring embraces the frozen earth...”

The words that followed had blurred under her tears, dissolving into a haze.

Like a symbol with no beginning or end.

*

Years later, Guan Miaoling heard from him when she received several long-delayed letters from Antarctica.

The envelopes held not only Ji Chong’s longing, chilled through by melted snow, but also a slightly yellowed photograph.

In the photograph, he stood silently before a pure, unfathomably deep blue ice ravine.

Guan Miaoling turned the photo over with trembling fingers.

On the back, in Ji Chong’s familiar yet unfamiliar, sharply slanted handwriting, were the words: [Don’t be sad. We were apart for so long that sorrow has faded.]

*

Reader’s guide:

1. A short modern BE romance, written in advance and posted all at once.

2. Inspired by McMurdo Station. Treat the whole story as fictional, with many liberties taken. Please don’t nitpick.

3. Comments are very welcome. Paragraph comments are open, with no restrictions.

4. The blurb has been screenshotted. Don’t steal the premise.

Theme: Perseverance